This is what I did. It turned out that the width of the carpet (8' I believe) was about 6" short to cover the entire rail. So we went back into lowes and borrowed a few 6"x6" samples to finish it off Can't tell and it has been holding for a year .

Two choices to avoid that. Use 12ft Width or they also sell 30" runners on a big roll. I went with the runner. It also gives you two nice factory edges to work with. You can put the edge you cut under the rail.

Lighter than neoprene, with none of the bad habits (water retention) of carpet.

Bit pricey, though, especially when you add in the adhesive.

+1 on the Hydroturf. I've installed it on both of my H18s and really like it. Very good grip and quite durable, after 2 summers of sailing it really isn't showing any signs of wear.

I bought a full roll of the long diamond cut (4.5mm thick) that was on close-out for $40 and used rubber cement to install it. Certainly took longer than the 3M adhesive backing would have, but being careful it ended up just as clean and it hasn't started to pull up at all. Plus, I still have enough left for at least another boat, maybe 2. Even at full price, a roll is a pretty good value, and you can always sell your left overs.

I put the neoprene kit from Murrays on about 4 years ago, and still very happy though as one said it got a few little indents in it, I think from the straps I used to squeeze the rails when I put on a new tramp.

I sailed a boat once that had some stinky mildewed carpet on it. Did not like that.

The Murrays kit also came with pieces you can put on the back decks if you want to trap out way back on a reach, which I don't. I should probably put them on the boom for my annual accidental jibe.

Jimrude, what did you find to be the most effective method of removing the old contact cement? I'm about to replace the old carpet on my 14 with neoprene. Thanks,

MVD - we recently replaced the carpet with neoprene. The carpet was rotten so the rail looked more like a mangy dog than something that would pull off in one piece. We used acetone and gently scraped it while wet with a putty knife and steel wool. Then cleaned it well one more time with acetone before applying the new cement. (make sure you are working in a well ventilated area or better yet outdoors).